Cardinals 18, Braves 3

Just call up the players from Richmond, Mississippi, and Myrtle Beach and let the players who actually want to play baseball have a spot on the major league roster.

Is the bullpen really this bad?

The Braves lost again last night to the Mets, 5-4. Mike Hampton pitched 6 innings and gave up 3 runs. Jeff Bennett was credited with a hold although the tying run was charged to him after Will Ohman blew the save. Julian Tavarez was solid over 1-1/3 innings and Vladimir Nunez gave up the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. The offense was OK. Yunel Escobar and Brian McCann each had three hits and McCann had 2 RBI. With another loss, the Braves should start playing the youngsters (more than they have already) and look towards next year. They travel to St Louis to face the Cardinals tonight at 815p. Charlie Morton will pitch for the Braves and Adam Wainwright (a former Brave) will pitch for the Cardinals.

In the Olympics, both beach volleyball teams won gold medals. In indoor volleyball, both teams are in the gold medal games. The baseball team was crushed by Cuba in the semi-finals. The men's basketball team plays Argentina in the semi-finals. The women's basketball team is in the gold medal game.

WOW! (good and bad)

The lowly Braves were beaten by the Mets last night, 6-3. They are now 1-9 in their last 10 games. Jair Jurrjens took the loss and Gregor Blanco had 2 of the 3 Atlanta hits in the game. Tom Glavine had an MRI that showed he does not have ligament damage. Casey Kotchman was put on the bereavement list to be with his mother, who is ill. Brandon Jones was called up to take Kotchman's place on the roster. The final game of the series is tonight. Oft-injured pitchers Mike Hampton and Pedro Martinez will pitch. Game time is 710p.

Usain Bolt demolished the competition in the 200m dash last night. He won by .52 seconds and set a world record that no one thought could ever be broken.

The US softball team lost for the first time in the last 3 Olympics, losing to Japan 3-1 in the gold medal game. A silver medal has to be a disappointment for a team that has rolled through most world competitions.

The women's basketball team is in a tough game with Russia, only leading by 1 at the half, 33-32.

A little offense, but no bullpen...again

The Braves continued their downward spiral into oblivion with a 7-3 loss to the Mets last night. Leading 3-2 after seven innings, behind a 2-run, 6 inning performance by Jo Jo Reyes, the bullpen gave up 5 runs in the 8th to give the game away. Jeff Bennett took the loss and Will Ohman got a blown save for their efforts. Yunel Escobar, Chipper Jones, Omar Infante, and Martin Prado each had 2 hits. Jones extended his hitting streak to 10 games since coming off of the DL. The teams play at 710p tonight. Jair Jurrjens will face Mike Pelfrey. Both pitchers are 11-8 with ERAs under 4.00, so it should be a pretty decent game.

The Jeffersonville little league team was eliminated from the LLWS yesterday. The team was 0-3 in pool play. Watch out for these guys about 3-4 years from now as they could make a run to the Indiana high school state championship.

Where's the offense, part 2

Once again, the Braves pitched a decent game but could not score enough runs to get the win, losing to the Giants 5-0. Jorge Campillo gave up 3 runs in the first 5 innings and solo runs in the 6th and 7th. He pitched 6 2-/3 innings and all 5 runs were earned. Seven players had one hit each, but none of them could produce a run. In 3 of the 4 games against the Giants, the Braves scored 0 or 1 runs. You'll never win games scoring that many runs. The Braves go to New York tonight to face the Mets, game time is 710p. Jo Jo Reyes will pitch for the Braves and Oliver Perez will toss for the Mets.

In other MLB news, the Padres are going to trade Greg Maddux to the Dodgers. While Maddux has not been his former self, he is still a solid pitcher. He goes out there every 5th day and averages 6 innings per start. His ERA is league average and his wisdom could help some of the young pitchers on the staff that have never been in a playoff situation before. He should fit into the rotation at the 3 or 4 hole and give the Dodgers another solid arm on the mound for the stretch run. Not too bad for a 42 year old future hall of fame pitcher.

In Olympic news, the beach volleyball team of Walsh and May swept the Brazilian team to make the gold medal match on Wednesday night (US) /Thursday morning (Beijing). Shawn Johnson finally won a gold medal in the balance beam event final after getting 3 silvers in the previous week. Fellow gymnast Nastia Liukin ended up with a gold, 3 silvers, and a bronze medal.

Where is the offense?

The Braves lost to the Giants Sunday afternoon, 3-1. Charlie Morton pitched 6 innings only giving up 3 runs. It was his 3rd quality start in his last four games, but the Braves are 1-3 in those games. It's OK to not hit when you are facing the ace of the staff, as Atlanta did on Sunday, however it is not OK when the team can't hit the fourth or fifth starter on the opponent's staff. Game four of the series is at 435p today. Jorge Campillo will pitch for the Braves and Barry Zito will pitch for the Giants. The Braves are 12 games out of the NL East lead and 14.5 games out of the wild card spot.

Best pitching of the day: Roy Oswalt, Astros - 8 IP, 1 H, 10 K

Worst pitching: Brian Bannister, Royals - 1 IP, 10 H, 10 ER

Best Hitting: Melvin Mora, Orioles - 5 for 6, 4 R, 6 RBI, 2 HR, 2 2B

Worst Hitting: Delmon Young, Twins - 0 for 5, K, GIDP

Some surprises, and others, not so much

The Braves jumped on the Giants early and came away with an 11-5 victory last night. Mike Hampton had his second quality start in the last three games pitching 6 innings and giving up 2 runs. Jeff Francoeur had 4 hits and 2 RBI. Nine different players had RBI and ten players had a hit in the game. Game 3 of the series is at 135p this afternoon. Charlie Morton will pitch for the Braves and Tim Lincecum will pitch for the Giants.

The Olympics did not have many surprises last night. Micheal Phelps won his eighth gold medal of these Olympics, breaking the record held by Mark Spitz since 1972. The US softball team has now won 20 straight in the Olympic games. They are 6-0 in these Olympics and have outscored their opponents 44-1. Rafael Nadal proved why he is the number one tennis player in the world by winning the gold medal in tennis.